>> why waste the air time? >> bret: consumers slam on the brakes on the economic recovery. are we getting closer to driving over that fiscal cliff? this is "special report". good evening, i'm bret baier. republicans are on the attack and democrats are in full spin cycle after word today the economy grew at an annual rate of just 1 1/2% in the second quarter of the year. on one hand, it is the 12th consecutive quarter of growth. op the other, it's the slowest since the third quarter of last year. we have fox team coverage. jim angle looks at the reasons for the slow did you know.

we begin with chief white house correspondent ed henry with what the numbers mean to the president and his reelection effort. good evening, ed. >> good evening. sunday marks 100 days until the election and this is the last possible way the obama camp wanted to celebrate it. it was just this week president obama declared the democratic approach to the economy worked in the clinton years and unlike republican policies, will again lead to recovery. >> just like we tried their plan, we tried our plan and it worked. that's the difference. that's the choice in this election. >> a much different verdict came today from the commerce department which said the economy is growing at a tepid pace. coupled with unemployment stuck above 8% for 41 months, the numbers were softball served up to the campaign of mitt romney. >> it's a picture of celebrating economy where consumption spending and investment spending have decelerating growth.

>> many forecasters say the economy is on pace pea for slow growth over the next year, putting mr. obama in a precarious position for his next reelection. gdp was contracting under president bush. and took a sharp dive the first months of the obama administration. after strong growth in 2010, it slowed considerably over the last two years and the romney camp charges uncertainties is hanging over businesses and consumers. >> do i get door number one with governor romney's plan with tax reform, deficit reduction, or do i get door number two with very high marginal tax rate increases from the president's plan. that's just an enormous amount of uncertainty. >> white house officials counter that tax hikes of the clinton years led to prosperity. >> it led instead to the longest piece expansion in our history and led to the creation of 24 million jobs. pretty good record. so that's what the president was talking about. >> with the new jobs report looming next friday, the president's focus on the clinton record begs the question as to

whether he's running from his own. >> he is running on his record. he is running on a vision for the future and an economic plan that, as one component that has as one component, a fundamental principle that everyone ought to play by the same set of rules and everybody ought to get a fair shot. >> the white house today also released its mid session budget review and revised downward its projections for economic growth this year and next. it also lowered its expectations for the budget deficit this year. but lower means $1.2 trillion. bret. >> bret: thank you. the u.s. economy has never been so sluggish this long into a recovery. chief national correspondent jim angle takes a look at some of the reasons. >> economists have little doubt about why the economy is slowing. for one thing, consumers aren't spending enough because they don't have enough. n mainly because there is not a whole lot of income growth.

it hasn't been much income created over the last couple of years. consumers are starting to get more anxious and starting to say, let's wait and see what's happening with the economy before we make to that he is major purchase. >> soft consumer spending, it's an endless cycle. it feeds on itself and the economy can't recover, if that's the case. >> consumer spending is the main engine for economic growth and if consumers aren't spending, businesses can't expand and hire. >> manufacturers are worried about flowing global sales, they're worried about what's happening with tax and regulatory policy. so much is on hold right now until the election takes place that manufacturers are really uncertain. there's a lot of anxiety out there. >> anxious about what will happen to tax rates, federal spending, to health care costs, a cloud of uncertainty that darkens the business climate. >> given those problems, i understand why folks would be reluctant to hire more workers or expand their operations. >> employers also say what they see as burdensome regulations. >> not just the number of

regulations, but in some ways the attitude of the regulators has become more antagonistic. >> manufacturers that i talk to are very worried about the regulatory onslaught that's coming your way. they're very worried about the fact that after the election, there could be even more regulations coming down the pike. >> if mr. obama wins. the last time a president facing reelection confronted unemployment this high was ronald reagan in 1984. he got reelected with a peak of 10.8% unemployment, but with very different policies. >> more than what president obama did, 10%. but he deregulated, cut taxes, and bet on the private sector. >> president reagan really valued businesses a little bit differently. i think you saw a much more of an embrace of the free market in terms of letting tax policy and regulatory policy help to again, create an environment whereby businesses could flourish. >> economists don't see things changing much the rest of the year with most projections for growth at about 2% or so at best. as one critic put it today, the

recovery lacks wind and oxygen. bret? >> bret: thank you. more on thisith the panel. wall street was not bothered by the numbers today. instead, encouraged by eurozone rescue plans. the dow put together a second straight strong day, gaining 188 points to go back over the 13,000 mark. the s & p 500 was up 26. the nasdaq finished ahead 65. after what has been described by many analysts as a bumpy start to his overseas trip, governor mitt romney spent today in london getting to know some of his potential colleagues while trying to smooth things over with the british public. carl cameron is in london again tonight. >> mitt romney and his security team walked the half mile from his hotel to the irish embassy to meet ireland's prime minister >> you walked from the hotel? >> i can do it once. >> you also had to walk? >> yes, we do. >> he left by motorcade, but had to walk there because of chaotic

london traffic and a taxi protest. ironic, considering the flak romney has taken prosecutor calling press reports about potential problems disconcerting. he's been described as backing away from the remarks, but reiterated them while denying they were a slight. >> a lot of people did about all the challenges being faced by the organizing committee, but after being here a couple of days, it looks to me like london is ready and it is hard to put on games in a major metropolitan area. what they've done that i find so impresssive is he took the venues and put them in the city. >> rick: while oversea, he's raising big money from americans living abroad. 2 million in london last night. and just as some donors and voters in the u.s. are less enthusiastic about donating and supporting president obama than they were four years ago, the same is happening overseas. giving romney an opportunity to boost both his campaign bucks and his absentee ballot votes. a new pugh poll suggests 48% believe the president would make wiser foreign policy decisions than romney. while 40% say romney would be wiser than mr. obama.

the fact that the commander in chief is under 50% is cause for growing concern for obama examine romney confidence. romney and his family are at the opening ceremonies, as is michelle obama. in the u.s., the obama campaign plans $5 million worth of ads including this one. >> i believe that the way you grow the economy is from the middle out. i believe in fighting for the middle class. >> the rnc's countering with this. >> americans waiting for help, billions were spent in foreign countries, millions went to political insiders. millions more unaccounted for. now your money is gone and so are nearly 500,000 jobs. >> romney puts london behind him tomorrow and heads for israel. on sunday, he'll be net meting with israeli leaders, along netanyahu -- including netanyahu. what he hopes to be perhaps the most politically significant part of this trip.

>> bret: carl cameron in london tonight. thank you. "special report" will be on the road next week. monday we're in clark county, nevada, one of the more than 30 swing counties. we've identified that will factor in heavily deciding the winner of the presidential race. weigh look at the important issues there, matter to voters, immigration, housing and the overall economy. tuesday, stockton, california, reporting on one of the first big cities to go broke. that disturbing trend across the country. wednesday, los angeles. looking at the california economy. what's working and what isn't? we're headed out west. so set the dvr, 3:00 p.m. pacific thyme, 6:00 p.m. eastern monday, tuesday and wednesday. does the british press have a bias against mitt romney? that's later in the grapevine. up next, is it a coincidence that president obama sends big money to israel as governor romney heads that way r cauliflor have a big carbon footprint? not at all. that's great. melons!!!

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>> bret: international news now, rebels in syria's largest city are bracing for an anticipated counter attack from government troops. the u.n.'s human rights office says a major offensive is imminent in aleppo. the regime is said to be amosing reinforcements to retake the city of 3 million people. the white house calls it a coincidence, president obama today through whole lot of your money at israel as likely challenger mitt romney heads to the jewish state during his first foreign policy trip. here is senior white house foreign affairs correspondent wendell goler. >> the bill the president signs amounts to a u.s. guarantee that israel will always be militarily superior to its neighbors. >> everybody understands how committed all of us are, republicans and democrats, as americans to our friends in israel. >> the bill provides a $70 million expansion of the iron dome missile defense system already protecting israel from hezbollah rockets. it commits the u.s. to support israeli-palestinian peace talks,

but makes it official u.s. policy to deny palestinian refugees the right of return by affirming our commitment to israel as a jewish state. aides traveling with mitt romney welcomed the legislation but said, quote, unfortunately, this bill does nothing to address yesterday's evasiveness from the white house on whether president obama recognizes jerusalem as the capital of israel. white house spokesman jay carney today admitted he had stumbled when asked yesterday about whether mr. obama recognizes jerusalem as israel's capital. >> status of jerusalem is an issue that should be resolved in final status negotiations between israelis and palestinians. >> congress has ordered the embassy be moved there. but that would put the u.s. in violation of a u.n. security council resolution that calls on israelis and palestiniwork it o. president clinton, george w. bush and obama have all refused. in the 2008 campaign, mr. obama declared his support for jerusalem as the israeli capital, but didn't preclude negotiations. romney himself has declined to

criticize the president while abroad, but he unloaded on him earlier this week. >> president obama is fond of lecturing israel's leaders. he was even caught by a microphone deriding them. >> some saw the timing of the ceremony, a day before romney travels to israel, as an efforts to upstage him. democrats denied him. >> that's not true at all because it's john boehner and eric cantor who set the time frame for this. >> polls give the president a substantial lead over mitt romney among jewish voters, but not nearly as big as the lead he enjoyed over john mccain. the romney camp hopes just reducing the advantage will help change the outcome in november. brett? >> bret: wendell goler, thank you. the opening ceremony for the summer olympics is going on right now in london. more than 10,000 athletes from 200 countries will compete in 34 venues. attendance is expected to approach 9 million. the games are said to be 101% over their original budget

already. tonight senior foreign affairs correspondent greg palkot explains whether hosting the olympics will be a golden experience to the british economy. >> the olympics are in london, including so thousand 500 athlete, millions of visitors and with the reregulation, the u.k. hopes for business. >> the economy is bumping along the b. we need all the stimulus we can get. >> some claim it will set records. boosting spending by $1.2 billion. creating 50,000 temporary jobs. 80% of companies in one survey expect more demand. this hotel is within shotput distance of the east london olympic site. holiday inn's john wagner says -- >> our business really just peaks up and skyrockets. >> the hard rock cafe in central is hoping to profit as well. >> it's really well spread out. tourists will get everywhere. it will be positive. >> not everyone thinks the london olympics will be a winner for u.k. business. with all the cost and disruption, the race for economic gold might be a bit tarnished.

most economists say they will have a hard time make back its $15 billion investment. it claimed as many people who come it london will stay away. those who do come will stay close to the sports. >> a lot of people -- that's something -- >> traditional tourist attractions are worried they won't draw. while there may be a money spent, it's worried it won't be a marathon. >> the impact will be short lived and probably relatively small. >> closed traffic lanes means a hassle of getting around might put off visitors and cabbies. >> it will be very difficult. >> still, one taxi firm claims his drivers are staying at the wheel in part due to official olympic business. >> no down side at all? >> i don't see any down side. a bit of traffic, but that's a small price to pay. >> at least the games will give some momentum to the london economy. maybe not the billion dollars surge of one prediction, but enough to keep some firms in the rung. at the london olympic park, greg palkot, fox news. >> bret: do you think hosting the olympics is worth the hassle

and expense? would you want them near your hometown? let me know on twitter. follow me at bret baier. still ahead, is republican concern over national security leaks just bellicose bloviating?

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>> bret: the head of the union representing thousands of immigration agents says the obama administration is making it impossible for his people to do their job. the union says illegal immigrants are taking advantage of the administration's decision to let undocumented residents who came to the u.s. as children stay here. >> if an inmate in a jail claims

to be a dreamer to avoid deportation or arrest, our officers are required to accept that claim and no other proof is required to substantiate that the alien meets the criteria of the new administration policy. at this point, we don't understand why dhs even has criteria at all. >> bret: more on this with a panel. a study claims the obama administration is dismantling immigration enforcement. the agency in charge of that responds that it must prioritize its resources on aliens whose removal has the greatest impact on public safety. a defense motion says the suspect in last week's colorado theater shootings was being treated by a psychiatrist at the school he was attending. media reports say james holmes sent the doctor a notebook describing his plans prior to the attack, but it was never opened. more memorial services today for victims of those shootings. among those remembered, a recent high school graduate and former

air force linguist. gun control is very delicate and dangerous issue, especially in an election year. but the colorado massacre has thrust it back into the campaign dialogue. tonight mike emmanuel looks where the presidential candidates stand. >> thank you very much. >> at a meeting yesterday, president obama ducked a question about the colorado shooter and how to do more to forget the country without any new laws. white house officials have said mr. obama favors enforcing laws on the books and he signed a pro second amendment this week. >> we recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation, that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage. >> mitt romney expressed his con dellences to the people of aurora and said the political and legal implications will be sorted out later. >> i don't happen to believe that america needs new gun laws. a lot of what this young man did was clearly against the law. >> although as massachusetts governor romney signed in the

assault weapons ban which he has defended as improving laws that already existed. >> there is no question that i support second amendment rights, but i also support an assault weapon ban. >> also during the 2008 campaign, mr. obama supported a return to the federal ban on assault weapons which had expired during the bush administration. he also endorsed requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows. the nra labeled him an antigun zealot, though the brady campaign to prevent gun violence says it's disappointed in mr. obama. >> the president hasn't shown enough leadership. he's talked about his heart being in the right place while reaffirming his belief in the second amendment. and governor romney hasn't shown leadership on it. >> yet even if the president wanted to move forward with new gun restrictions, it doesn't sound like his allies on capitol hill are eager to move forward. majority leader harry reid said with the schedule, there was no way gun control would come up. when asked about upcoming plans -- >> here is my biggest goal in september. i hope bryce harper continues to

do well and washington nationals are going to go to the pennant. >> so far there has been talk about gun control, but little action. final note, we reached out to the nra for the story and they declined to comment. bret? >> bret: thank you. supreme court justice scalia says he is not ruling out new gun control measures. he talks with chris wallace this weekend on fox news sunday. >> yes, there are some limitations that can be imposed. what they are will depend on what the society understood were reasonable limitations at the time. there were certain location limitation where -- >> what about these technological limitations. obviously we're not talk being a hand gun or husband katy. we're talk being a weapon that can fire 100 shots in a minute. >> we'll see. >> bret: you can see the entire interview with justice scalia on of course news sunday. check your local listings for times. is the british press gunning

for mitt romney and just how special is the special relationship between the u.s. and great britain? the grapevine is next.

>> bret: now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine. the white house chose an unusual item to fact check today and played loose with the facts. syndicated columnist charles krauthammer who is an all star panelist here, wrote in his column today, quote, obama started his presidency by returning to the british

embassy, the bust of winston churchill that had graced the oval office. on the white house blog, dan pheiffer called that patently false and ridiculous claim. writing the bust is still in the white house in the residence, outside the treaty room. he even included a picture of president obama showing prime minister david cameron the bust in 2010. case closed, right? well, no. it's not that simple. it turns out there are two busts. the bust that was loaned to president george w. bush after 9-11 that was in the oval office, the one charles krauthammer referenced was, in fact, returned to the british embassy after that administration ended. that bust, now resides at the british ambassador's washington, d.c. residence. the white house collection has had a second churchill bust for decades, which is the one pheiffer says is on display in the residence. late today, pheiffer updated his blog post noting the two busts,

not admitting a mistake, but instead, maintaining, quote, the idea put forward by charles krauthammer and others that president obama returned the churchill bust or refused to display the bust because of antipathy toward the british is completely false. reaction from charles in a few. is the british press playing favorites when it comes to president obama and governor romney? one media writer says yes. mediaite notes londoners criticized him for so-called gaffes during the visit. but rothman says the fourth estate there has been much more forgiving to president obama. when he gave the queen an ipod containing among other things, audio of two of president obama's speeches, some in the u.s. labeled that a tad bit egocentric. but the guardian gushed, clearly a lot of thought went into this gift. mrs. obama broke with your remain by touching the queen and

the telegraph read, renew ago touching relationship. when the president tripped over a toast to the queen at a state dinner, a guardian columnist sympathized, quote, nobody was hurt. nothing was damaged. the whole thing was an utter irrelevant relevance. when president obama referred to the faulkland as the maldives, it was said it was an uncharacteristic more akin to those of his predecessor, george w. bush. update ago story on friday follow-up segment, boston democratic mayor now says he will not try to stop chick-fil-a from opening a restaurant in his city. he had said the fast food chain was unwelcome because it supports traditional marriage. new york mayor bloomberg said it would be inappropriate to deny a business license based on political or religious beliefs. one of the president's top people is mocking republican concern over national security leaks. the democratic leader of the house is questioning whether there is a big problem in the first place. doug mckelway is here with the

latest details. good evening. >> good evening. republicans are unwilling to let up on their quest for answers over national security leaks. leaks that appear to have come from the white house. less than 24 hours after house minority leader nancy pelosi down played the leaks yesterday -- >> i don't subscribe to the idea that there is a prepond rains of leaks. i don't know that to be the case. >> new hampshire republican senator kelly ayotte delivered this blunt rebuke. >> i think it's clear that nancy pelosi lives in an alternative universe because we have already heard from the chair of the senate intelligence committee, tiian feinstein, that these leaks are the worst she has seen in 11 years on the intelligence committee. >> and while senior advisor to the obama campaign called the attacks a bunch of bellicose bloviating, the head of the special operations command described the leaks about sources and methods very differently, saying sooner or later, it's going to cost lives.

>> so all of that we guard carefully. unfortunately, not everybody guards that very carefully. >> with an interview with greta van susteren, house speaker john boehner last night concurred with the admiral, but admitted the pace of a thorough investigation will not produce speedy results. >> there are hundreds and hundreds of interviews that have to be done, all of that information is kept by the special prosecutors and everything is in the dark until they're ready to issue their report. >> that may not happen until after the november election. even then some republicans fear the inherent political implications of the leak will make it nearly impossible for the two d. o.j. lawyers to render an impartial finding. the president has rejected republican calls for a special council. >> bret: we will continue to follow it. thank you. the economy slows, the administration says it is heading in the right direction.

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don't wait. call now. >> you'll see a record of economic growth and job creation as we emerge from the worst recession since the great depression and positive job creation, that job creation. it is not enough. as we saw today with the gdp numbers, the economy is not growing fast enough. the economy is not creating jobs fast enough. >> it's a picture of decelerating economy where consumption spending and investment spending have decelerating growth. there is an estimate from two stanford economists, one at the university of chicago suggesting the policy uncertainty probably subtracted 1.4 percentage points off gdp growth last year. it is still weighing on the economy this year. >> bret: all of this reaction to

the gross domestic product, gdp came out today. 1.5% for this quarter. as luke at tracking it over the last three, you see quarter 4 in 2011, 4.1. and 2.0 and then 1.5%. that is about where the projection was. the dow didn't react employer to that. but it is also very slow growth. not able to get out of an unemployment situation that doesn't look like it's improving at 8.2%. let's bring in our panel. ben feller, writer for the associated press, charles lane, opinion writer for the "washington post," and charles krauthammer. okay, ben, the white house reaction was, hey, listen, this is 12 quarters in a row where there is some growth, but they couched it and said it's definitely not fast enough: other analysts said this is really weak on the recovery scale. >> it is weak. some growth is probably not going to be enough for a lot of

voters, especially those who are unemployed and want to see a little better than that from the president in his campaign. the problem for the white house with this argument about growth is that there is a trajectory here that they're trying to establish, that things are going in the right direction. when you see growth declining, 1.5% growth, it doesn't match that narrative. we're about to get new job numbers next week and it's the same problem. i mean, there are jobs growing every month, but it's a decreasing number. it's not headed the direction that they want, that people want. so this is the problem they're going to face if this continues to happen, we've got another quarter before the election. you've got jobs numbers coming out once a month until the election. they need to see a pattern that goes the other direction. right now they don't have it. >> bret: chuck, the white house put out its deficit projection for this year. it puts it at $1.2 trillion for deficit for this year. while that's below what they projected originally, it is also

the fourth consecutive trillion dollar-plus deficit that this administration will be running. >> yeah. on the silver lining is flects lower health care spending, which is -- if you want to lock at it that way, one of the happy biproducts of this recession, and that will have some beneficial effects over ten years and lower deficits, but really not a serious solution to the deficit. we have a problem here where for thee careers in a row, we've had this springtime surge in 2010, 2011, 2012, followed by kind of a summer, fall swoon. it looks like every time the fed manages to loosen monetary policy, you can engineer some rapid growth for a while, and then it dies away. this is terrible news for the president. happening at the worst possible time for him and it really puts ben bernanke on the spot. is he going to do something about it or try to do something? can he? whatever he does, is he going to be accused of playing politics? >> bret: charles? >> even if we accuse him, it wouldn't have any effect on the

economy. it's usually six-month lag. so it's not going to take effect until after election. it's not going to do a thing. on the deficit, 1 boyne # trillion versus 1.3 trillion is a rounding r. you add up all of the trillions and we've never had that kind of deficit before, before 2009. you add them all up and you have $5 trillion of debt added on in one administration. this is completely unsustainable. it's a greecian experience. >> to that point. >> bret: 1.5 gdp growth, we've graphic that shows the gdp, gross domestic product at $15.59 trillion. the debt is at 15.85 trillion currently. keep going. >> and if you get to 100% or 90%, you really are in a danger zone. there is a technicality, you want to look at what the public held at, which is lower. which is right now about 70%,

but almost doubled under the obama administration, heading into 80 and 90, which is unsustainable. it's greek territory and on growth, the problem is that in 2010, the growth was 2 1/2%. 2011, 1.8%. this quarter that they just reported on, 1 1/2%. those numbers are going down. this is a deceleration of the growth in a recession where you should be getting acceleration now. if you draw a line of the deceleration it reaches a plateau essentially at zero. so to boast -- how many months in a row of positive growth is a way of saying the administration's way of saying we're in a double dip yet. the economy is stalled. unemployment is stuck examine if anything, it will probably rise. >> bret: another comparison historically is the growth that came out of the the reagan years, when they were in similar

situations with recession. if you look at the gdp comparison, you can see the line s here and red is the reagan years, gross domestic product. you and see the big jump there towards the end as he was heading towards reelection, getting up to 10, 8, 6% by election day. when you look at this and this growth, unemployment at 8.2 now, it was 7.2 when reagan was heading for the election, what do you think how this plays this election? >> that gets back to this trajectory argument. when reagan is up for reelection, during tough economic times, things were bad, but they were getting much better towards the time that voters had a decision to make. that clearly wasn't the only factor, but that was the main one. that is what president obama has been saying when the numbers were better, but look at this chart, things are heading in the right direction. right now they're not. so they're sort of shifting the argument to well, who has got a better vision? how do you want to reduce the deficit? how are we going to get the money and are we going to let

taxes go up on the rich? it depends on what the day is and where the argument is. i think what the problem for the obama administration right now is that the -- without the robust gdp and without robust job growth, they're in this position they can just get hammered by governor romney. it becomes much more of a referendum. i think what will be interesting to see is if the pattern holds and you have modest tepid growth for the rest of the time. who benefits? right now if it's close to thinking from the obama side, they might be able to hang on. if it gets down to zero or negative, the edge goes to romney. >> bret: another problem is the gdp was almost double this or was double when president obama said this is not the time to raise taxes. on anybody and he extended the bush era tax cuts in between. now the gdp is about half of that and politically, they're making the go at raising on high earners. >> yes. we'll be hearing a lot about

that. but just to go back to something he was saying, this comparison with reagan, don't forget the comparison with clinton and bush. one of the things that's interesting that they're doing now is they're harking back to the clinton years and saying, that was good times under the democrats. very interesting change because the president in the past had been saying things like, we've been doing things wrong in this economy for 30 years. now in trouble here a little bit, he's including the good clinton years as now part of the narrative. >> just like we've tried their plan, we tried our plan, it worked. that's the difference. our plan is the clinton plan and the obama plan. charles? >> mr. president, i knew bill clinton. i was not exactly a friend of bill clinton. you are no bill clinton. clinton was a centrist. obama is a leftist. obama is the exact opposite and to actually pretend he's otherwise is not going to work.

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>> bret: every week viewers vote for your choice on-line and this our friday lightning round, this week again, charles pick one. we put it on there and it just wins. we're back with the panel. charles krauthammer, your pick. >> once again, i'm humbled by the confidence that the voters have put in me. i commend the opposition for not running negative ads on my anti equestrian position of yesterday. so question: obama today signed a bill that was passed in congress, supporting israel and giving an extra money for the iron dome antimissile defense system, which israel had.

question, will this incline anybody who is pro-israel to support obama in november? and the correct answer is no, unless he's been in a coma 1/2 years. obama is simply here continuing, the military cooperation we've had with israel for decades, but on the life and death political issues, stopping iran's nuclear program which is closer than ever to completion, to pressing israel to return to the 67 lines and to the way he's insulted and marginalized israel's elected leaders, i think his record on israel is a poor one. it's not going to change anybody. clearly aimed at deflecting the attention romney will get in israel tomorrow. >> chuck, he signed a bipartisan bill. a lot of support in congress. it did happen a couple days before -- a day before mitt romney headed to the jewish state. >> another thing that's going on is the republicans organized stronger or more specific than

usual effort to peel away jewish voters from the democrats. i think the correct answer is the two most pro israel groups in america are jewish voters and evangelical christians. the vast majority of evangelical christian also vote for the republican and the vast majority of jews are going to vote for the democrat, as per usual. >> bret: ben? >> i'm not sure if bill signing on a defense pact on the friday summer heading into the olympics is going to change anybody's vote. this is a small part of a much bigger debate about which candidate is really committed to israel. and both of them are taking every opportunity, president obama, governor romney, to do that. strangely coincidental that this would happen as the governor heads to israel over the weekend, but i think the president won this, the jewish voting bloc overwhelmingly last time. there is a concern that that margin could be smaller, particularly in a state like florida where every bit makes a difference. >> bret: chick-fil-a. this controversy over mayors who said they wanted to block

chick-fil-a restaurants because of the support for traditional marriage. the biblical, as the owner said, interpretation of the family. what about this and the pushback we're seeing, ben? >> we quoted a guy in our story referring to the chick-fil-a president saying it's his opinion. he's entitled. i'm just here to eat. i think that is probable lea the prevailing view of a lot of people. you have a prominent and successful business owner whose religious believes have been inclined not to open on sunday and in this case speak about traditional marriage. you have communities who thought that is insensitive or not respectful to diversity and so you have this debate going on. >> bret: chuck, even michael bloomberg, who had his own outreach as far as sugary drinks and other things thought this was overt line for those mayors. >> i just eight there for the first time two weeks ago and the strawberry shake was terrific. but i guess what i would add to this is mayor of boston said it

all. he was the first one to lash out at chick if ily and when he he realize what had a terrible precedent this would subject to all incoming business so a test, he admitted he made a mistake. >> bret: we're going to end with as promised, reaction from charles on bust gate. charles wrote in his column today that president obama started his presidency by returning to the british embassy the bust of winston churchill that had graced the oval office. dan pheiffer, white house communications director, put a white house blog post on saying that's patently false. a ridiculous claim, 100% false. quote, the bust is still in the white house, in the residence outside the treaty room. in fact, he included a picture of president obama showing prime minister cameron as it said on the photo, the bust. there you see the picture from 2010. however, it turns out there are two busts and the one that was in the oval office was, in fact, returned to the british

ambassador. it's in his residence here in d.c pheiffer updated later saying the idea put forward by charles krauthammer and others that president obama returned the churchill bust will refuse to display the bust because of antipathy toward the british is completely false. not saying that he got it wrong the first time. charles? >> it's astonishing. he doubled down. all he had to say was, we got it wrong the first time. the british ambassador today said that the bust that's in his residence is the one that was returned when obama came into office, exactly as i had written 100% as i had written. so not being able to deny it, he pretends it never happened and he says the idea that the bust was returned is false. then he talks about the reason that the bust was returned was because of antipathy. i never talked about antipathy. he should have hornably have said we made a mistake. there was an old bust in the white house, been around for 50 years. we got them confused. that would have been understandable.

that would have been honorable, but you don't expect that out of this communications office in the white house. >> bret: okay. that's it for the panel. leave it there on this friday. stay tuned for one show's remembrance of an inventer to being a different kind of communications company by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you. . jim twitchel is this true? yes it's true. how is this possible? proper tire inflation, by using proper grades of oil, your car runs more efficiently, saves gas. you could be doing this right now? yes i could, mike. i'm slowing you down? yes you are. my bad. the works fuel saver package. just $29.95 or less after rebate.

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>> bret: finally tonight, the inventor of the home treadmill has passed away at the age of 96. the tonight show decided to put together a tribute in his honor. ♪ memories [ laughter ] >> ♪ memories